eHealth savings could top $7b: Report

James Riley
Friday, 07 May 2010 14:59

IT Policy - Regulation

A commitment in Australia to e-health initiatives could avoid an estimated 5,000 deaths, two million primary care and outpatient visits and 500,000 emergency department visits each year, a major new study claims.

Management consultants Booz & Company say a comprehensive e-health system in Australia could produce annual savings of $7.6 billion annually by 2020.

Its report Optimising E-Health Value makes the case for government to invest in an e-health scheme that better connects healthcare providers, and improves the way that individual health records are stored and shared.

The report says reducing medication errors - largely through improved handling of health information - could produce savings of $2.6 billion annually, while improved care and preventative measures would save the health system $2.3 billion.

Adverse drug events from errors in medication are estimated to affect 10.4 per cent of patients currently treated by GPs each year in Australia. Half of these are classified as moderate to severe, with 138,000 requiring hospitalisation.

Report co-author and Booz & Company principal Klaus Boehncke said the analysis demonstrates the benefits from e-health investment, and said there was a need to build such investment in the health reform agenda.

"E-health is the crucial missing piece of the health reform jigsaw presently, and it must not be allowed to slip from view," Boehncke said.

"Indeed, the success of some of the Government's reforms, particularly the local hospital networks and primary care networks, and reduced Emergency Department waiting times, depends largely on the connectivity that a robust e-health system provides," he said.